Sky-writing device



G. HINEMAN SKY WRITING DEVICE Filed March 12 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet l G. *HINEMAN SKY WRITING DEVICE Filed March 12 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gear 6 7%326076? Aug. 5; 192% G. HINEMAN SKY WRITING DEVICE Filed March 12 1924- 3 Shets-Sheet 5 PATENT OFFICE.

GEDRGE KW, OF ANN ARBOR, MIQHTGAN.

Application fled March 12, 1824. Serial Ho. 898,685.

To all whom it may cmwei'n:

Be it known that I, GEORGE HINEMAN, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Ann Arbor, in the count of Washtenaw and State of Michi an, ave invented certain new and use Improvements in Sky- Writin Devices, of which the following is a s eci cation.

his invention relates to a sky writing device for automatically writing words, numerals or pictures in the sky with the use of smoke.

Every one is familiar with the stunt of sky writing which employs the use of a stream of smoke which-is projected from an areoplane at high altitudes. This form. of sky writing r uires great skill in the manipulation of e aeroplane.

t is my object to provide a device carried by the aero lane which will automatically project a p urality of smoke bombs sotimed and controlled that they will explode at difl'erent altitudes and in different positions in the sky so that when exploded these bombs will clearly describe a letter or figure.'in the sky which can be plainly seen from the ground. A still further object is to provide an automatic control whereby these bombs are projected at predetermined time intervals thus requiring less skill on the part of the aviator in performing the stunt. It is merely necessary for the aviator to proceed in a straight course at a steady speed, the bombs being automatically projected and so timed as to explode at the ro r time todescribe a letter or design in t e sky.

It is possible to use smoke bombs of different color when it is desired to display. a rather attractive design in the sky.

In the drawin Fig. l is an elzvational view of an aeroplanehaving m device mounted therein;

Fig. 2 is a dis. ammatic view showing the result obtaine -by thefexploding of-the smoke bombs.

Fi 3 is a detail-showing the developed length of the armature for controlling the pro ecting means.

Flg. 4 1s a section through the armature.

Fig. 5 is a-plan view of the magazines car-' ried by the aeroplane and the controlling means thereof.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fi 5, showing the means for firing the smoke ombs. v

. are connected to corresponding ma Fig. 7 is a horizontal view on 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail showing the means for holding the bombs in place in the magazine.

An aeroplane is provided with the usual fuselage 1, the propeller 2, and wings 3. Rotatably supported on the fusela e 1 is a standard 4, and the bolt 5 rotatab y supports the magazine 6. This magazine is the line provided with a plurality of recesses 7 in which the bombs 8 are set. A spring clip 9 normally holds the bombs in place within the recesses. These magazines are adapted to ca a large number of bombs and may be rea ily removed when the magazine is exhausted by unscrewing-the nut 10 and replacin the exhausted magazine with a loade one.

Secured to the under side of the ma zinc is a ratchet wheel 11, which is provid with the same number of teeth as are recesses in the magazine. A trigger 12 is provided with a tooth 13, which is adapted to engage one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel and suitable magnets are provided for actuating the trigger at predetermined time intervals for partially rotating the -magazine so as to bring the recesses containing the bombs into alignment with the hammer 14. An armature 15 is carried at any convenient place in the machine and is rotated at a slow speed. The ound wire G is electrically connected wit the central shaft of the armature and the wires a, b, 0, d, e and f are 'each connected to a brush or rollfir which is adapted to make contact with t e contact points a, b, 0 d, e and f. The electrical conduit wire a is connected to the magnet A, the wire b connected to the mag not B and similarly the wires 0, d, e and f etsfor controllin the other magazines. t is understood t at any number of these magazines may be employed. Each magazine rotate at a speed of R. P. M. As the.

cam rotates in the direction shown by thelow the hammer arm-to be released, a strong right s61 Fi 5 This causes the tooth 13 to rotate t e ratchet wheel 11 the dis tance of one tooth and thereby rotate the magazine so as to bring another recess in alignment with the hammer 14. The rotation of the armature is such that the roller (1 requires two seconds of time to travel between two adjacent contacts a and a Itis obviously understood that this time interval could bevaried if the other-timing apparatus is varied accordingly. It is easier to describe a specific timing of the device so that the examiner may fully understand the operation of the .machine.

A shaft 16 has keyed or otherwise secured thereto a'number of cams'17 (see Fig. 6). There is one cam for each magazine and a trigger 14 for each magazine. The

trigger 14 is adapted to engage this cam and to be normally held in a raised position, as shown in Fig. 6; This .cam is timed 'to arrow-it will bring the recessed part of the cam, 18, under the hammer arm 19 and alcoil spr'ingQO causingthe hammer to rotate in .aclockwise direction' These hammers 1&1 are pivoted on the stationary shaft 21,

and 'when' the hammer. ispropelled by the .;coil spring 20, the hammer point 22 strikes theffiring pin 23 carried-by the bombs 8.

This causes the bomb to be projected from to bring,

out of the barrel 24. The periphery of the from this 'magazine at an interval of two spaced that the magnet A will 'be again seconds the contacts a and a are so actuated at a two-second time interval and a new bomb will be carried in position, so"

- that when-thehammer strikes another bomb will be projected. In Fig. 2 I' have shown diagrammatically. howv these bombswill '3 form letters when'they explode. Iicmploy zines, although this may 'be' varied 6-ma if it is so desired. 6 magazines, however, will do the trick, and in forming the letters I will describe how the first letter fF is formed. At a certaintime bombs'are fired. fromall six of the magazines, thebombs contained in the magazine A are so timed I that they will explode'in 10.. seconds after being fired. The position of this bomb when exploding will be such that it will form that part of the letter "designated a. :The-

falling close to the ground bomb fired from the magazine Ffis so timed as to explode after 20 seconds, and it is to be noted that these bombs are fired downwardly, therefore the bomb fired from magazine F would travel farther than the bomb fired-r-from the magazine A, and when it is exploded will form that port-ion of the letter designated f The bombs fired from the intermediate'magazines, viz: -B C, D and F are so timed as to "explode after 12 seconds, 14 seconds, 16 seconds and 18 seconds. This will cause: the

bombs; to successively explode and when ex-v .ploded will form the vertical lines of the letter F. The aeroplane is traveling in a horizontal direction at a speed of approx-. I

imately 100 miles per hour, and in two seconds of time it will have traveled a distance of approximately 300 .feet. At this time the magazines A and C areactuated, the hammers areagain tripped and bombs are fired from these magazines andthey are timed to explode as before'and form that part of the letter F designated a and c. The magazines B D E? andF- are not actuated and the hammers for firing the bombs ,from these magazines merelycom e down and-strike an empty recess-andtherefore do not project any bombs.

Similarly the-portions of the letter F designated a. a, a and. a are formed by actuating the magazines and firing the bombs therefrom. 'These bombs are held in I their" recesses by 1 the spring '9 and when the hammer strikes the firing pin 23 there is suflicient force to force the bomb past'the spring 9. Y It is unnecessary to provide a large initial velocity to the speed of the bomb as gravitation force will affect the bomb in such a way that in 10 or 20 seconds of time'the bombs will travel a considerable distance. In ,fact, the distance 'thebombs will travel between 10 and 20 seconds'is approximately "5000-feet, so it is evident that a letter of considerable height may be formed. It is the custom insky writing to obtain an altitude of several miles with the aeroplane and when atthis'altitude the letters may be formed in the sky a mile high, and a mile or' better above the ground, so that there will be no dan er of the bombs It is possible, however, to explode these .bombs simultaneously, thatis, providing every bomb with a timing mechanism so that the same will explode say after it has fallen for a time interval'of 10 seconds.

When exploding the bombs simultaneously it is necessary to'provid'e the bombs with different Initial velocitiesso that one bomb fore exploding.

will-travel farther in 10'seconds than the other hon 1b. To do this it would be necessar'yjto provide the bombs carried by the magaz ne A with a small charge of powide'r or possibly none atall so that the inbomb fired from the magazine F will be charged with a suflicient amount of powder to provide an initial velocity of ap-.

proximately 250 .or 300 feet per second, and the bombs fired from the intermediate magazines provided with suflicient charge to propel the bombs at speeds varying between zero and 300 feet per second. To obtain these varying. charges for roviding the initial velocity, isa matter 01? bomb designing and necessitates the carrying of larger or smaller charges of powder in the bomb, which are fired when the hammer strikes the firing pin. It is immaterial which method is followed, whether the bombs are provided with timing mechanism for exploding the same at different times, or are provided with timing mechanism to explode the same simultaneously and then additionally provided with charges for imparting various initial velocities to the bombs. Either method will form the letters as desired and the controllin means for contrcl lling the firing of sai bombs is identica What I claim is:

1. In a sky writing device, the combination ofmeans for dropping a plurality of smoke bombs, means for exploding said bombs at different altitudes, and means for controlling the dropping of said smoke bombs at predetermined time intervals.

2. In a sky writing device, the combination of means for projecting a plurality of smoke bombs downwardly, means for exploding said bombs at different altitudes,

and means for controlling the projecting of said smoke bombs at predetermined time intervals.

. 3. In a sky Writing device, the combination of means for projecting a plurality of smoke bombs downwardly each provlded with a timing mechanism for exploding the same at difierent time intervals, and means for controlling the projecting of said smloke bombs at predetermined time interva s.

.4. In a sky writing device, the combination of means for projecting a plurality of smoke bombs timed to explode simultaneously, means for providing difierent initial velocities to said bombs, and means for controlling the projecting of said smoke bombs at predetermined time intervals.

5-. In a sky writing device, the combina tion of means for projecting a plurality of smoke bombs each provided with timing mechanism for exploding the same simultaneously, means carried by the bombs for propelling the same at difl'erent initial velocities, whereby the said bombs are exploded at diflerent altitudes, and means for controllin the projecting of said smoke bombs at pre etermined time intervals.

6. In a sky writing device, the combination of means for projecting a plurality of smoke bombs, means for exploding said bombs at different altitudes, and a magnetic control for controlling the firing of said bombs at predetermined time intervals.

7. In a sky Writin device, the combination of a plurality 0 magazines, each carrying a plurality of bombs, the bombs each having timing mechanism for exploding the bombs at different time intervals, whereby the bombs are ex loded at different altitudes, and means or controlling the firing of said bombs from said magazines at predetermined time intervals.

8. In a sky writing device, the combination 'of a plurality of magazines each carrying a plurality of smoke bombs, means for pro'ecting the bombs from any one or all of t e magazines, means for exploding the said bombs at different altitudes, and means for controlling the projecting of said smoke bombs from the magazines at predetermined time intervals.

z 9. In a s writing device, the combination of a g each provi ed with a plurality of smoke bombs, means for firing the bombs from the magazines, means for exploding said bombs at different altitudes, and means for controlling the movement of said magazines for the purpose of firing said smoke bombs at Ipredetermined time intervals.

urality of movlng magazines,

testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

GEORGE HINEMAN. 

